‘The Mandalorian’ Claims Nielsen Streaming Mantle In First Non-Netflix Weekly Win

Dade Hayes
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Disney’s Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian has made more history, taking the top spot on the Nielsen weekly U.S. streaming chart in the first weekly win by a non-Netflix show.

The series, which just wrapped its second season, edged the The Office, which wound down its run on Netflix in December. The margin was 1.336 billion total minutes of streaming to 1.311 billion minutes, with The Mandalorian riding a wave of buzz from its season finale. Unlike most Netflix shows, Disney releases most of its originals one episode at a time.

More from Deadline

Nielsen’s weekly chart reflects activity during the week of December 14 to 20. It measures only U.S. viewing on TV sets (leaving out mobile streaming) and has a built-in lag time in reporting, by arrangement with the handful of streaming players being tracked. Apart from The Mandalorian, all other spots in the top 10 were taken by Netflix shows, consistent with the usual pattern.

As the marquee show on Disney+ when the service launched in November 2019, The Mandalorian has been the very definition of a subscription driver. Last month, Disney announced it had reached 86.8 million global subscribers. After a little more than a year, Disney+ is already at the upper end of the company’s initial five-year projections and is now expected to surpass 300 million by 2025.

Netflix remains the global leader, with 195 million subscribers as of last September. In addition to Disney, several other well-funded challengers have hit the market in recent months, including Apple TV+, HBO Max and Peacock.

The Office saw a swell of interest among Netflix subscribers before it shifted to NBCUniversal’s Peacock at the start of January. The show ended 2020 as the year’s No. 1 title by far, according to Nielsen.

Acquired titles took up most of the top 10, a common pattern, though holiday movie A California Christmas cracked the top 10 with 581 million minutes of viewing.

The Crown, which had multiple weeks at No. 1 after its fourth season debuted in mid-November, fell to No. 3, with 772 million minutes of viewing.

Here is the full chart, with total episodes available and total streaming minutes:

The Mandalorian (16 episodes, 1.336B minutes)
The Office (192 eps., 1.311B min.)
The Crown (40 eps., 772M min.)
Grey’s Anatomy (366 eps., 762M min.)
Manhunt: Deadly Games (10 eps., 712M min.)
Supernatural (327 eps., 684M min.)
Virgin River (20 eps., 681M min.)
Criminal Minds (277 eps., 651M min.)
Schitt’s Creek (80 eps., 597M min.)
A California Christmas (feature film, 581M min.)

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.